Coniferous means "cone-bearing", so in my world, Fiddliferous means "fiddle-bearing".

This page will be dedicated to the many fiddle tunes I've composed over the years and discussion of them and related material. Play through the tunes if you're a fiddler. You may actually like a few enough to memorize them and play them out and around; giving life to them, in a sense, similar to the way that cones drop their seeds and new trees sprout.

Clicking the mouse on them should enlarge them enough and right-clicking on your PC should enable printing.

I'll begin downloading more tunes shortly. This project will take place over time, so be sure and check back once in a while. Thanks.

Below is a partial list of my original fiddle tune compositions. I will include more as I'm able to find them in all of my paperwork stashes all over the house.
Alder Brook; Braw Birks; The Green Pepper Rag; The Old Man in the Woods; Saddleback Jig; The Regal Hornpipe; Jay Mountain; The Muddy Old Pig; Effy Ellen; The Old Tin Can; The Jolly Old Man; The Gathering; Laird Mc Nichols; Gowan O' the Strath; Shanty Brook; The Pastor Stomped His Collar; The Rue Castle; 39 Today; Knob Lock Brook;  January Thaw; Another Hair Gone; The Saint Regis; Rock Cut Brook; Dance of the Field; Monroe Chilson; Beard Hair on the Fiddle; The Decipious Fiddler; The Valley Road Jig; The Woodland Jig; The North Country Reel; That Fair-Haired Lass of Mine; The Highlands Fiddler; My Autumn Waltz; Elibridge Balsam; Reuben Sanford's Still; The Twin Pond Reel; Scratch My Back in the Shower; The Round Pond Reel; The Hazelnut Reel; Mary's Oe'r to See Her Nephews; The Wells Hill Boar; The Wells Hill Reel; Primrose in the Vale; The Windy Barn; The December Hornpipe; Fill the Tire Check the Gas; Grassicalli; Top Notch Road; The Unicoi Bounce; Mayor Gordon's Coat; and many more..............

Here's an Etude in D Major for violin that I have named "The Vermont Fence". It's a tune built around fingering patterns and proves to be quite an exercise. Practicing this every day will undoubtedly improve your playing skills.

Here's a jig I composed recently that captures the excitement Mary feels when she's about to see her cute little nephews. She get's so excited to see them......and the nephews get excited to see her, too.

Here's a melody that's been running loose in my head for a few years now, and I have finally sat down and given proper attention to it to get it out and on paper. It travels right along with a quarter note at 116 BPM. This was inspired by my VERY close brush with a HUGE blackbear on Saddleback Mountain early one morning before sun-up.

Reuben Sanford was the first person to settle "Dansville", NY, which was re-named Wilmington the following year or so. Mr. Sanford ran a whiskey still here for several years before the area became a town. I'll just bet he was a tremendously interesting gentleman and would have been a pleasure to know. In honor of what I think he must of been like, I've composed this "Bluegrassy" fiddle tune which bears his name. Hope you enjoy it anywhere near as much as I do.

Here's a fun workout on your fiddle. It's in the key of E Flat. It's rolling right along at a quarter = 108. The minor chords add a lot to the piece. I've been going to write this out for a long time......thank goodness I finally did!

This is a fun-to-play fiddle tune that toggles back and forth between Major and Minor keys. I've really enjoyed this piece over the years. Hope you do, too.

Here's a beautiful waltz that I wrote today, October 4th, 2010. It took me all day, but I finally finished it. It's an "around the horn" sort of a piece using the "circle" method of composing with a standard orchestral progression that I used to employ a lot in my college days. Hope you will enjoy it.

The Valley Road Jig is written in AABBCC form. To shorten it, I sometimes play it in AACC form. Experiment and see what you think.

Here is the short form. It's written out without including the middle part. I most enjoy playing this 'shortened' version. 

Here's a tune that I composed today, September 27th, 2010. Keep a good accent on the beat and let the fiddle "growl" on the low parts and on the first, third and fifth measures of the "B" part keep the cuts clean and crisp. Remember to sharp (#) the g note in measures 8, 16, 24 and 32.

Here's a catchy little fiddle tune I composed in the key of D Major with two sharps. It lends itself to lots of ornamentation, or you can play it straight, too. I set the tempo at 98, but when I play it for friends I actually prefer 108.

Now try fiddling through the 2nd violin part which has been kept in first position intentionally.

Here's a fun tune to play. The part with the dashed line requires 3rd position on the fiddle. It's a good way to practice switching back and forth out of 1st to 3rd. The B Part has lots of double note material adding to the interest. Give it a whirl. It lends itself very nicely to ornamentation and variation. Experiment....you never know, 'til you try. Work up to the 86 beats-per-minute speed keeping the cuts and trills, etc., nice and clean.

Here's a fun tune to saw through that I composed this morning, the 18th of December. Give it a try. Remember to keep the bow snappy and give proper attention to note duration to get the true hornpipe effect.

Here's a frolicking little hornpipe I've just composed that's happy-sounding and can be fully ornamented. Saw through it a few times and you'll find lots of spaces for some fancy bowing and cuts and turns.

Here's a tune I composed today, the 6th of January, 2011. It's my first fiddle tune of the year 2011 and it mates up nicely with an earlier tune I composed and named "The North Country Reel".

Here's a fun little practice tune I do each time I play my fiddle. I use it to warm up and play it slightly faster than quarter = 108 to around 118. It's basically fingering exercises all strung together but it sounds great and can be a bear to play through until thoroughly familiar.